Art celebrates the performers of the short-lived Friends of Old-Time Music Festival with a new collection from Smithsonian Folkways that highlights some of the great performances from the festival.

Art celebrates the performers of the short-lived Friends of Old-Time Music Festival with a new collection from Smithsonian Folkways that highlights some of the great performances from the festival.

Art looks at one of his favorite genres in American folk, the Sea Shanty. Typically a work song, these call-and-response tunes have become popular among folk enthusiasts. All of this segment's selections come from a 3 volume set called Sharp, Short Shanti

Art takes a look at the works of Indiana musician Vern Smelser. The selections from this segment are taken from a Smithsonian Folkways LP recorded in 1964 called Fine Times at Our House - Traditional Music of Indiana - Ballads, Fiddle Tunes, Songs. This

This episode Backroads and Banjos features a trip to Dacula, GA to visit the son and grandson of Gid Tanner, the legendary member of the Skillet Lickers. One of the first string bands to be recorded, the Skillet Lickers were perhaps Georgia's most popular

Art takes a trip down to the Bahamas to look at the work of guitarist Joseph Spence. Spence's work, which combined the sounds of calypso, blues, and sacred music, inspired American guitarists Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder, and Richard Thompson just to name a few.

Art visits his good friend Roy Tench at his home in Alto, GA. Roy has been playing the fiddle since the late 1920s and still plays the same fiddle he bought in England during his deployment during WWII. Aside from playing on his own and with his family, R

Art examines the history of coal-mining songs and how they helped improve what were and still are extremely dangerous working conditions. While coal-mining songs are not a secret, thanks to songs like Dark As A Dungeon and Sixteen Tons from Merle Travis,

Art looks at Georgia banjo player and singer W. Guy Bruce and places some of his own recordings with Bruce from the late-1970s and early-1980s. At the time of these recordings, W. Guy Bruce was already in his 80s and shared some of the songs he learned in

This episode of Backroads and Banjos comes to us from Art's living room in Athens. He is joined by Australian singer/songwriter Darren Hanlon to talk about the legacy of Australia's most-famous country singer Slim Dusty. In his 50+ year career, Dusty wrot